I followed the two gods in front of me through the myriad of hallways and corridors, however, I was still too shocked to speak. Every demigod was brought up with the knowledge that when we fought, we fought for our lives, and for the lives of every human on the planet.
As soon as we knew that a Primordial was after us, we were scared. That was without a doubt. But there was always hope. Some part of our brains thought that it would turn out just like the war against Kronos. That we would still beat the odds and win. But to see the truth?
No.
It was too heartbreaking. I never thought I'd actually see the end of the world, and more than that actually live through it. But…. Oh God!
All those who sacrificed themselves in the Titan War – Bianca, Zoe, Beckendorf, Selena, Lee, Ethan, Luke…. I never thought that there was ever a chance that their sacrifices would be in vain. To think that they put their lives on the line for a victory that was so…... temporary. It was too harsh to think about.
As I kept walking, I ended up bumping into someone in front of me. I looked up to realize that we had stopped in front of a doorway.
The twin gods turned towards me, and Apollo spoke, "Don't be shocked by what you see inside. It is merely how things are now, and the best that can be managed with the current situation"
Artemis opened the door and I braced myself for whatever horror stood in the room in front of me, and when I gazed upon the room, I saw…. People. Men and women. Granted not too many, but it wasn't a horrific view.
Sitting around a table in the center of the room, were 2 men and 3 women. One was a blond-haired woman with dull grey eyes, and another woman, who looked extremely pale with sunken sky-blue eyes and untamed brown hair, and the last woman had pitch black hair with gray streaks running through it. Looking over to the men, I saw a bald man with scars running all over his face, and pith glasses covering his eyes from view, and lastly a man with an untamed beard, wearing a leg brace.
Wait a second…..
Is this really…. Am I really seeing?
In front of me lay the Olympian Gods.
I couldn't really comprehend what was in front of me. The almighty Gods who ruled the world sat in front of me as old and defeated, well humans. When I expected to see the gods, I expected them to at least look like Artemis and Apollo, but they looked much worse.
I raised my eyebrow towards the twin gods, expecting an answer for this, and Artemis spoke, "We may be alive thanks to Hestia's sacrifice, but that doesn't mean to say we have much power left. My brother and I retain some of our power, at least to be a little more powerful than the demigods. However, the others? They do not have enough power from their domains. The sun and moon are eternal, and Gaea would not dare disrupt the natural cycle to such an extent"
She gestured towards the remaining gods, "Their domains have been close to decimated. The only reason Aphrodite is still with us is because of Hestia's sacrifice, else she would have faded along with Dionysus"
She gestured towards the woman with the sunken face and brown hair, and I was shocked. That was Aphrodite? At least all of the other gods actually looked something like themselves from when they were in power, but the goddess of beauty was, well not very beautiful right now. Without that much love in the world, she must be barely holding on.
She looked towards Athena, and gestured for her to speak, "Maybe Athena would like to explain our situation right now to the newly awakened?"
Athena sighed, and spoke, "Well Perseus, as you can see, the gods you see around you are the only ones left, or at least as much as we know. We have yet to discover any gods still surviving outside of these bounds. The final sacrifice of the eldest gods is all that hides us from Gaea's view. I am not one to speak of the hopelessness of our situation, but I must say it looks quite bleak. This hideout is where we were sent to by the eldest gods, and it is where we've been hiding out ever since. I would say that it is the main base of operations for Olympus now, but the truth is we don't have much of an operation"
I couldn't help but agree with that. With only 7 beings of average power, they were in no conditions to take on Gaea's army or even put a dent in it. But one more important question suddenly came to mind, and I was ashamed that I hadn't asked of it before all of this.
"You may not have much of an operation here" I said, "But what about your past operation? What about the-the demigods?" I asked, my eyes pleading for any good news about my closest friends.
All of the gods' eyes suddenly turned downcast, as Apollo whispered, "We don't know. Our children are out of our radar, and we have no idea if they're in hiding, or….." he didn't need to finish. The message was clearly given. The demigods may not be alive. The rest of the seven and I may as well be the last demigods.
"And the hunters? The amazons? What about them?" I continued, hoping for any good news.
"If you think I had any news of my hunters, do you think I would be here?" Artemis shouted, tears pooling in the edges of her eyes, "As of now, you and the other seven are the only remaining demigods. We can only hope that the rest of my fellow gods' children are still alive"
"That is the state we have been put in now" Athena continued, "We are unable to leave this base even for the smallest time, even to search for our children. The only one able to do so is Hermes – which is why you don't see him here now. His skill set is the only way we are able to gain any intel on Gaea and her plans. The one main advantage we have found out, is that Gaea thinks most of us dead. The outcome of Hestia's sacrifice remains unknown by her or her giants. Since Olympus still stands, she has her suspicions of a few gods in hiding, but no more than 2 or 3…"
She was interrupted by a growling noise. Looking alert, all able-bodied gods quickly drew their weapons. Everyone was tense, until a second growling noise was emitted again. This time the source of the growl was clear as they all turned to look at me expectedly.
I smiled sheepishly as I said, "I'm sorry. I haven't had anything to eat for about 7 years"
Athena groaned and hit her forehead against the table, "You and your dim-witted father are the same. Without food in your stomachs you both are useless"
She looked up towards the bearded man I assumed was Hephaestus and asked, "Can you heat up some food for this imbecile?"
The Fire God nodded as he grabbed a frozen taco from a fridge in another room and gave it a small burst of fire. He handed me the now steaming hot taco and I snarfed it down fast. It felt good to have food in my stomach, though some part of me was a bit disappointed that it wasn't blue.
"Anyway, as I was saying" Athena continued, "our current situation is thus. Most of us gods are unable to fight well. We would only stand for backup. Our only able-bodied fighters right now, are you, Apollo and Artemis. Right now, the most important objective we have is getting you back in shape. You are our secret weapon now. Gaea suspects you dead, and loath as I am to admit it, you are stronger than any one of us here as a close-up swordsman. Your training comes first now"
Athena, having finished her long monologue, rested her head back and started massaging her temples. She gestured towards the bald man sitting opposite her, and he grinned a ruthless smile.
"Alright punk, let's get to work" Ares said, "I'll make sure that you rue the fact that you're still alive"
Athena gave a small cough and glared at Ares, "If I can put away my rivalry with Perseus' father, than you can put away your pathetic grudge with the boy so that we can get out of this hellhole and live the rest of our immortal lives in peace"
Ares grumbled, and said, "Fine. Come on punk, we got a lot of work ahead of us"
He got up and left the room, and I followed, knowing the hell that was about to follow.
Time Skip
8 months was a hell of a long time to train. Ares grilled me hard the entire time. There were no breaks, no rest, no time for any sort of slacking. With my now immortal body, I felt new strength coursing through my veins, and I put it to use in a single-minded thought process – train. I was completely out of shape when I started, and Ares used the first month to get me into shape. He was basically the most ruthless and cruel gym trainer you would've ever seen. It took some time for my body to get used to the strain, but once I got used to my new immortal body, he pushed me until I mastered my new strength.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg. As soon as we finished fitness, we moved on to the sword. And during these months, I realized, that I sucked. That first year that I fought Ares, he wasn't even trying. All my moxie that I showed towards the War God disappeared. The man was legendary. Even in his weakened form, he kicked my ass in every shape and form.
Everything he knew, he passed on to me in the many months he trained me. The plethora of techniques that I knew dwarfed my talents in the past. But I could only hope that I knew enough. How ever strong Ares was, in his most powerful form, he was still easily immobilized by Gaea. And so, I kept training. It came up to the point where I could beat Ares one or two times in a brawl. Though, he still beat me the other fifty times. I wasn't satisfied though, so I kept training.
I wasn't the only one who had this mindset though. The two other gods, who I had come to call friends in these past few months pushed themselves harder than ever. Apollo and Artemis trained day and night, like me to push themselves further than they ever had in their millennia of living. Sometimes we sparred together, sometimes we fought with battle plans. We practiced sieges and infiltration. I really couldn't fathom that Apollo would ever be as serious as he was right now.
However, one day our 8-month streak of continuous training was broken.
The three of us made our way towards the main meeting room where often the gods (and I, as I seemed to be one of them now) would often meet up. As we entered the room, I counted the usual gods lounging in the different seats. However, this time the head count came up different. It was one more. A sandy haired man with blue eyes and a sharp nose sat in another chair.
Hermes had returned.
The god looked tired, but not in the same way that the others were. He looked weary of travel. And if the God of travelers was this tired, I didn't want to know what could have happened.
"Hermes" Apollo exclaimed as he walked over and gave his womanizing buddy a hug
"Enough Apollo" Artemis said, "You will have your time to reconcile with him after. But first we must hear his accounting"
She turned towards Hermes and said, "Welcome back. As you can see, this dunderhead behind me…" she said as she motioned towards me, "Has woken up. But nothing else has happened on our end. Please tell us that some information has come to light on your end"
Hermes smiled, an actual hopeful smile. A sight I never thought I'd see again.
"I have" he said simply, as the entire mood of the room changed. Every god in the room was instantly alert. Everyone waited with bated breath for any news that could be delivered by the returned god.
"I've found one of them" he said with a smile. A cheer could be heard from everyone in the room. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. After this much time, after these many years (even though I was in a coma for most of them), Olympus finally had hope.
"Who?" I blurted out right away, too excited to care about anything else.
"Leo Valdez, the son of Hephaestus" he said.
"You found my son?" Hephaestus said immediately. I saw tears dripping down his face and getting lost in his beard.
Hermes nodded as chatter started. Every god started shouting and asking questions to Hermes.
"ENOUGH!" Athena shouted. Immediately the chatter subsided. She looked amongst the gathered beings and said, "We now have a goal. We have an aim. Each and every one of us have our jobs now. I'll coordinate with Hermes to figure out a plan to rescue the demigod. Ares, you need to continue the training. Push him harder than ever, because you know what comes next"
Ares nodded and looked towards me with a gleam in his eye, he no longer hates me either, but I still think he looks at me like a project that needs finishing.
"Hephaestus, armor. They're going to need it" Athena continued.
He nodded and said, "Anything to save my son"
'And you three" Athena said as she turned towards Apollo, Artemis and I, "The world once had a Big Three, and now they are gone. Go now, and train as hard as you can, so that when everything is ready, you can go forth and save the son of Hephaestus. Open the floodgates and show the world that the new Big Three is here"
Hey guys. How was the new chapter? Make sure to leave your comments as a review, it really helps.
One more thing, I'm looking for a beta for this story. Anyone who thinks that they might be interested in betaing for this story please PM me. It would be really helpful.
See you guys next time.